Most first nights with a telescope go badly for reasons that have nothing to do with the instrument. This is the order that avoids them, and almost all of it happens before it gets dark.
Set up in daylight the first time
Assemble the instrument, align the finder against a distant object, learn which way the focus knob moves and which eyepiece gives which view. Doing this in the light takes twenty minutes and saves an hour of fumbling. It also tells you whether anything is missing while the shop is still open.
Let it cool, and start with the moon
Bring the telescope outside half an hour before you use it, because a warm instrument shows soft images. Then point it at the moon, which is easy to find, bright enough to focus on and genuinely spectacular. Use the lowest power eyepiece to find it and only then increase magnification.
Find with low power, always
Every object is found at low power and examined at high. Beginners reverse this, put in the shortest eyepiece, see nothing at all and conclude the telescope is faulty. The field of view at high power is tiny, and finding anything in it without first centring at low power is close to impossible.
Expect the movement and the orientation
Objects drift out of the field in under a minute at high magnification unless the mount tracks, and the image is likely to be upside down or mirrored. Neither is a fault. Nudge the telescope to follow, and learn to read charts in whichever orientation your instrument gives you.
Questions people ask about telescope
How do I use a telescope for the first time?
Assemble and align the finder in daylight, cool the instrument outside, find the moon at low power, then increase magnification.
Why can I not find anything in my telescope?
Almost always because the finder is not aligned or the magnification is too high. Align the finder in daylight and always find at the lowest power.
Why is the image blurry?
Either the telescope has not cooled to outdoor temperature, the magnification is beyond what the aperture and the air support, or a reflector needs collimating.